Hi, I’m back, nice that you read my travel update! 😀 We are currently in calm waters, which is quite enjoyable after all the adventures of the past year. I’ll tell you more about that in a moment. Of course, it’s time to catch up on those adventures first! Here it goes… 😉
I ended the previous update in Broome (Western Australia) and we are now 4,600 kilometers away, in Warwick (Queensland). We had to go this way because Samantha’s mother and stepfather were coming to visit us for 2 weeks. We drove back via the north of Australia and, as you can see on the map at the bottom, we can now officially say that we did the whole lap, and that’s pretty cool, right?! 😊
We had another mission and that was camel spotting. We looked left and right a lot while driving but couldn’t find them… but of course we didn’t give up and turned to the helpline called Google. We read that there was a place called Mount Isa where camels were supposed to live. So we went that way and sure enough; there they were! We even fed them apples and carrots and I think we have now seen just about every animal that exists in this country.
The return journey went almost smoothly, but not completely… After one of the many days of driving we reached our camping spot for that night just before a road where there were bush fires. The local authorities had closed this road because there was fire on both sides of the road. If this were not resolved the next morning, it would mean that we would have to drive a 6-hour detour on a unsealed road. And you don’t want that with our camper. Fortunately, when we woke up, the road was open again, the fire was still active but not as big. It was the first time for me to drive through such an area with an active fire and a lot of smoke next to me. Well, all’s well that ends well. But no, not, our camper wouldn’t be itself if one of the tires didn’t go flat. So a day later we found ourselves once again with a flat tire on the roadside, the 3rd this year! And I don’t want to point fingers, but also the 3rd while I wasn’t behind the wheel… 😉. Normally a flat tire is not that exciting, we changed the previous one within half an hour. Only this time we had a small problem: our jack stopped working, and that is a pretty crucial tool when changing a tire. We also had no internet connection because we were in the middle of nowhere, so our radio in the camper came in pretty handy. So we have a radio (kind of walky talky) with which you can connect with truckers or other people on that channel. For example, if there is a fire, you will be notified. We used it to ask if anyone happened to have a jack that we could borrow and yes; a trucker was driving in our direction and had a jack for us. Well that was perfect. He stopped his big car on the side of the road and helped us change the tire. Saved again by the nice Australians! 😊
Fortunately, the rest of the trip went very well and we were back in Brisbane in time to start the trip with Christina and Patrick! It was their first ever trip to another continent and for Patrick even the first time away from the US! And all that for them to be included in this blog 😉 Samantha and I had made a pretty tight schedule for these 2 weeks, but with a lot of fun things. We traveled in our camper and that of course took some adjustment with 4 people in such a small space. Fortunately everything went well, Samantha and I slept in a tent and while driving we had to hang a cloth so that the police did not see that there were 2 people in the bed (which is of course strictly prohibited)!
The first days we explored Brisbane and went to the Australian Zoo (the one owned by Steve Irwin). We went to Noosa, which is a nice place by the sea. And then we went to Heron Island, an island in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef. That was really cool, because we could literally walk out of our room and be on the reef. We snorkeled there several times and saw quite a bit of everything. Sharks, rays, turtles, fish, coral, you name it. The island itself is a bird sanctuary so the whole island was full of all kinds of beautiful birds, which also meant that you had to be careful of bird poop dropping on your head 😉. The island is also known for the fact that turtles come to the beach every year to lay their eggs. If you walk to the sea in the evening you have a good chance of seeing those turtles. We tried 2 evenings but unfortunately had no luck. The next mornings we saw the tracks of the turtles in the sand and that was beautiful too. My highlight of the island was the snorkel at sunrise. We had set our alarms and were the first in the water. The nice thing at sunrise is that most animals are active, so we saw a lot of them. That combined with the fact that we were the only ones in the water made it a very beautiful experience! 😊
The next day we went to K’gari, which is the island that is full of sand and where you need a 4×4 car to drive around. Our camper can hold a lot, but we decided to rent a car anyway 😉. Patrick in particular had a great time there because it is a fun terrain to drive on! We ended the last days in Springbrook National Park where we visited a glowworm cave in the evening. The name actually says it all, but glowworms are worms that glow in the dark. They are located in 2 places in Australia and this was one of them. When you enter the cave they are everywhere and because it is dark, it seems as if you are looking at the sky with stars. On the way back from the cave we had to walk with our flashlight on so that we could follow the path and without realizing it we walked past a large snake. Patrick was walking behind Samantha & me and saw it happen. I’m curious how many snakes I’ve walked past without realizing it in the past year… or well, I don’t really want to know I guess 😉
All good things come to an end and in this case Christina and Patrick had to go home again. And for us too, it meant that our last weeks in Australia had begun. We had a house sit (looking after someone’s house and pets) planned for 3 weeks and that was something we were really looking forward to. No more traveling, but in one place, with a shower, a normal kitchen and a little more than a few square meters for yourself. Or even better; a lot of square meters for ourselves because we are currently on a kind of farm in Warwick. The house is super beautiful and the people (Phil & Deb) we do it for are super nice, we really couldn’t have had a better time. They helped us clean the camper and even let us stay until we leave Australia! We look after a very well trained dog (Jaffa), a sweet cat (George) and 2 horses (Jimmy & Maizy). Samantha especially likes the horses, so that’s nice because I don’t really go near them 😉
Fortunately, selling the camper went well. On beforehand, you never know how quickly the selling will go. Fortunately, we sold it within a week and for the asking price, so we were very lucky 😊. When we saw the camper driving away, it really felt like the end of our time here in Australia. After selling the van we could start planning our next few months, because we had decided that we wanted to continue our travel. We really like life as we have it now and I think we will both be happy with it for the time being. I understand that not everyone would seek this life, but I realize that I am very happy with it. Being free and deciding where we want to be and when, without any obligation, feels like a great luxury. I must say that I miss enough people from the Netherlands. So, I think there is a good chance that we will return to the Netherlands at least for a while sometime in 2024, but we will worry about that later 😊
Now the question, where are we going…? Here it comes: we’re flying to *drum roll* New Zealand on December 2! Nice and close and it must be very beautiful. In any case, we are looking forward to it and you will read how we like it next time. Thanks again for reading and much love! 😊